Shifting Gears
by Icee The Hedgehog
Summary: Metal Sonic has finally had it with Eggman and decides to set out on his own with his best friend, Metal Shadow (AKA Shadow Android). However, after losing in battle against Sonic, they are imprisoned in G.U.N. jail. Now they must escape before Eggman gets them. But what happens when they meet a rather crazy hedgehog resembling Shadow in the jail? Is he a friend or an enemy?
1. Prolouge:Tired of The Failures

_Hello all, and welcome to a new story.  
_

_This story is an idea I have had for awhile, about Metal Sonic and him finally turning away from Eggman for good, and about him struggling to gain acceptance from the public while also trying to avoid Eggman trying to get him back. This story takes place about the same time as my Light In The Darkness Prequel.  
_

_Also, as always, I own none of the characters except for the OCS.  
_

* * *

**Prologue: Tired of The Failures**

_My name is Metal Sonic. I am one of Eggman's robots, made to look exactly like Sonic and to have his same abilities. My mission has always been to destroy him, although every time Eggman has sent me out to do so, it has gone up in flames somehow or another. Somehow, some way, that hedgehog always finds a way to win, and to be honest, I am sick of it. It is honestly very foolish that Eggman continues to try and try (and still try) to destroy Sonic. It's about time he just gave up and accepted that his plans are just a bunch of garbage and nothing else. They will never be successful, and he should just deal with it. Although I act faithful to Eggman and do what he wants me to, I still, in my own "mind", do not like him. Never have and never will. The only reason I am still in this base is because I have been told that I will be destroyed for good if I ever try to escape again. That and I have learned my lesson from last time I left without Eggman's knowledge. It was not a pretty time, and that is all I am going to say about it._

_I live in Eggman's newest base with all of Eggman's other creations. My best friend is Metal Shadow, formerly Shadow Android. As you know, there were a ton of Shadow Androids, but Metal Shadow was the only one who survived. Although he had been injured, Eggman was able to save him. Well, with my help of course. He seemed to have immediately taken a liking to me and became my best friend. Eggman didn't seem to care, and still to this day doesn't and often sends us on separate missions, leaving us to worry about each other all throughout a mission that we will probably only fail anyway._

_My former friend is Metal Knuckles. He resembles Knuckles the Echidna, and he acts a lot like him too. He's very hot headed and packs a powerful punch. He used to be my friend until he got some kind of virus from one of our failed invasions of Station Square. He is now locked away in a closet, and I venture to say that Eggman will not get back to him as he is too busy with the creation of his new Metal Amy and Metal Blaze to really be concerned with Metal Knuckles at this moment._

_Finally, there are the idiots of the group, Orbot and Cubot. Those two don't know anything, and are the dumbest robots that have ever walked the earth. The only things they are good for is annoying Eggman (which is fine by me) and making everyone laugh because of their dumb remarks or actions. Finally, there are the other piles of robots that Eggman has made of all kinds, sealed up in containers, awaiting to be released into the world and to most likely be destroyed by Sonic's Spin Dash. For some reason, I can't help but feel some kind of sorrow for those poor robots, to simply be created and turned into scrap metal the minute they are released into the world. At least I am lucky…I am designed to not be destroyed as easily as them, so I get a much longer "life". Still, can't help but feel bad for those poor guys._

* * *

"Are you done with that mess yet?!"

I am snapped out of my thoughts by Eggman yelling, wanting to know if I have finished cleaning up Sonic's latest mess inside the base. Robots lay in a pile, dismanteled and messed up. Glass is all over and the cage in which we had Shadow The Hedgehog in for a good few hours, is busted. I quickly pick up the broom and get to the cleaning.

"You had better answer me or I am coming in there!" booms Dr. Eggman.

"It's not done yet, sir!" I yell. (Eggman's recent upgrades to me let me speak in normal speech and also show emotions via my eyes)

"Well _get _it done then!" Eggman shouts back. "I already have revenge planned out and this time I WILL NOT FAIL!"

"Whatever…" I say quietly, going back into cleaning up this mess, only to probably have another one waiting on me tomorrow because Eggman's revenge plan ends up going straight down the drain per usual. I guess this is just how it is. We fail, we make another plan, we fail again and I clean it up so we can start the entire cycle over again. It's starting to seriously annoy me every time the cycle goes over again. I am tired of living in this constand never-ending circle. But what can I do about it? If I escape again I will probably be caught and destroyed. But still, this endless circle must stop somehow or I think I am going to go totally insane…


	2. The Escape

**Chapter One: The Escape**

"No you don't, Metal Shadow!" I say, somewhat cheerfully, slamming back the table tennis ball at my friend.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, Eggman has no chores/plans for us to work on, so Shadow Metal Shadow and I finally are able to get some free time. The two of us snuck down into the basement and to the old table tennis court that is there. Eggman considers the thing junk, but he has yet to throw it out, despite numerous times saying he was going to have us throw it in the dumpster, but never bothered to actually give the order. Metal Shadow and I actually enjoy a game of table tennis every now and again, and it helps improve our speed and reaction times, although Eggman finds the whole idea of us playing table tennis or anything but doing work for him to be "wasting time".

"Failed again, Metal Sonic." Metal Shadow says, slamming the ball back.

"No, _you_ failed!" I say, slamming the ball back

"Failed again!"

"No, _you_ failed!"

"Failed!"

"No, _you_!"

"You!"

"You!"

"_You_ and I mean it!"

Metal Shadow slams the ball back in my direction, his stripes shining slightly in the light. It soars right past me, nearly hitting my face. Instead it hits the door, just as it opens to reveal Eggman. The ball bounces off of the door as it flings open, and hits Metal Shadow in the face.

"What is all the commotion in here?!" Eggman demands, standing in the doorway tapping his foot.

_Guess we were too loud…Oh oh._

I immediately start to cower, hiding myself beneath the table tennis table, afraid that Eggman is going to yell at us for what we did. Metal Shadow also does the same. We both have dropped our rackets onto the floor. I look at Eggman, still keeping myself beneath the table. He continues to tap his foot, demanding response from us immediately. For a good five minutes, no one says anything.

"We were playing table tennis, sir." Metal Shadow speaks up, as I continue to cower.

"I told you both not to be down here playing table tennis!" Eggman shouts, nearly causing me to jump and send the entire table tennis table flying. "I said that that table tennis table was to go to the dumpster! I told you guys to throw it away last week!"

"No you didn't, sir." Metal Shadow says.

"I am fairly certain that I did!" Eggman nearly interrupts him. "Now get it out to the dumpster immediately!"

"Not like we weren't playing it." I mumble to myself, hoping that he doesn't hear what I said. "I for one was having a good time until your fat butt showed up and shot it straight down the toilet, thank you very much."

"Make it disappear now!" Eggman shouts. "If I hear anymore back talk out of you, you both are going to be caged up until further notice! I am not going to tolerate it!"

_Blah blah blah… _I think to myself, grabbing one end of the table tennis table. Metal Shadow grabs the other. We take it out to the dumpster, Eggman's fat mouth running the entire time we take to take it out. All I am hearing from him now is "blah blah blah". After he just shot my one time of fun that I may have for at least a few months directly down the toilet, I could care less what he has to say. Not like I was bothering his royal Egg-Bum anyway. Sure, we were a little loud, but otherwise we weren't doing anything wrong. I don't see why he should give a Chao's rump what we do…As I said before, he just makes us help on plans that just get ruined by Sonic anyway. It's truly just not worth my effort or time to care about these plans because they won't go through. I used to care, but how can one continue to care about something that will always be turned to garbage? If I had my way, I would be out of here and maybe try to make something useful of myself, being I am not serving much of a purpose here.

"Now, you get your rumps to bed!"Eggman booms, pointing towards our "bedrooms" (AKA the recharging closet)

"I don't even need recharged yet!" Metal Shadow argues.

"Neither do I." I chime in.

"I don't care!" Eggman yells. "Do as I asked!"

Metal Shadow and I stomp upstairs and into the closet and I slam the door. Being that I don't need recharging and I refuse to go into the recharging station until I am ready, I sit in a corner of the dimly lit recharging closet, looking at the ground. I see the all-too-familiar Eggman symbol stamped on my shoe. Nobody has ever noticed that, but I've had that stamp ever since I was first put together by that royal Egg-Bum. A sign to anybody who sees me that I am owned and am property of him. I'm not even a _person_. I am _property._ Yet I still have my own thoughts and feelings and can control myself on my own. I am property all because I am a robot, and not considered a person. I am always going to be considered somebody's pet. That's just how it is…That's how society works. Which I find to be complete crap. Had I not been a robot, they would consider the little respect Eggman gives me, and every one of his robots, along with this constant working to do pointless plans each and every day to be cruel. But all because I am a robot, it's all perfectly okay, and not a soul cares.

"Hello? Are you alright?"

I look to see Metal Shadow sitting there.

"I'm fine." I say after a minute. "I just can't take this anymore. Something has to give…I can't continue to live like this. I want to be more than this."

"I know you do." Metal Shadow says. "We all do. But you know what happened last time. And Eggman will destroy you if you escape."

"I almost don't care!" I respond, feeling a sadness and rage come about me. Eggman's new feeling things must be working extra well, or I just feel a lot of sadness and rage about everything. "I'd rather be destroyed than live like this for another day!"

"Oh are you worked up about that table tennis court?" Metal Shadow asks me. "Aw, it was no good anyway."

"I don't really care about the table tennis court!" I nearly interrupt him. "Well I do, but that isn't my point. I'm tired of being nothing. I'm tired of being nothing but an overall failure."

"We're not failures." Metal Shadow says.

"Oh? Really, we're not failures?" I ask, crossing my arms. "What's so successful about serving this royal Egg-Bum, trying to help his plans succeed, only for them to be smashed by Sonic and we constantly stuck cleaning the mess? And then when we try to step out of that we get yelled at? I for one view that as a failure."

"Well there's nothing we can do so you better just su—

"There's something I can do!" I interrupt. "It may just be the end of me, but I can march right out of here. I've done it before. And being destroyed doesn't scare me. It's better than being a failure here."

"Well…if that's what you are going to do, I will support you all the way, as your faithful friend." Metal Shadow says. "And I will go with you. If one of us is getting destroyed, then we can be destroyed together."

I nod to him, knowing that he is a true friend. Metal Shadow and I have gone through a lot in the many years we have been in this base. We were after all, two of Eggman's oldest creations, and we have been here through many ups and downs and twists and turns. Yet somehow, we are still here, and still friends. If I could smile, I would be right now.

"Then I guess there's nothing stopping us." I say after a few minutes. "C'mon, let's leave this dump."

"And go…?" Metal Shadow asks.

"Anywhere away from here is fine by me." I say. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere. Like I said, I can't stand to be here anymore. At least out there we have a chance of being something besides a failure."

"But you know, no one out there will trust us." Metal Shadow says. "And if Sonic comes—

"Then I will show him a fight like he's never seen before." I interrupt.

"Metal Sonic…Although I do agree that we need to leave, I don't think you're thinking some things through." Metal Shadow says. "I mean we need to at least have a destination, otherwise Sonic will find us and we will be back where we started."

"If Sonic comes then we just fight him like always—

"And lose." Metal Shadow interrupts.

"Maybe just one of us against him will lose, but we have yet to team up against him. The Egg-Bum hasn't used his dumb head and realized that he might succeed if he didn't have us separated for just about every task." I state.

"I guess you're right." Metal Shadow says. "But still, we have to be on guard…In case us teaming up doesn't do it."

I don't respond to him, and kick open the recharging closet. The door bangs against the metal wall. I poke my head out of the doorway, looking left…then right. No Egg-Bum. He must be on his computer or asleep. Judging by the time on my built in clock, it is about midnight, so he is probably in bed. That means the coast should be clear for our escape…Well, providing we don't set off the alarms. Even so, that won't be an issue, because Eggman was dumb enough to teach me how to disarm the alarm.

I motion for Metal Shadow to follow me, also signaling him to be quiet, in case the Egg-bum is not in bed and is lurking somewhere. I sneak around the base. My eyes light my way easily, so the completely dark base is no problem for me. Metal Shadow stays close behind me, not making a sound, aside from the scrape of his skates. Everything in the base is off, and all of Eggman's robot junk is turned off. Even Orbot and Cubot are off and recharging.

As I approach the exit, I see Metal Knuckles. I know Eggman has not bothered with him since he got a virus and went insane, but I still feel bad leaving him here. Afterall, he was my friend, and Metal Shadow, he, and I had some fun times at the base. I somehow wish that Eggman had gotten off his fanny and fixed him, like he kept going on and on (and on) that he would get to. But as I have learned, even though he goes on and on that he'll do something, it usually does not get done. I kneel down to Metal Knuckles, shaking my head.

"Hopefully one day he fixes you." I say to myself. "And maybe you'll escape and find us some day."

"Hello!" Metal Shadow interrupts my moment. "What happened to getting out of here?"

"Excuse me!" I shout, my temper flaring. It tends to annoy me when he does that. I am right in the middle of a personal moment and he has to yell 'hello?' Like I don't know he's there? Well, Metal Shadow is known for that. That and the fact he has totally dismissed Metal Knuckles from his memory. Well, it's not his fault. Eggman had to erase his memory awhile back anyway, because Sonic had somehow given him a virus made by his friend, Tails. The only way to get rid of the thing was to delete his entire memory. That was a year ago, and Metal Shadow still has not recovered everything he is supposed to know. Eggman said he'd fix that but…well you probably know where that went. I'm lucky that I have yet to catch a virus…And I hope I never do either. From what I hear the things are very nasty and you'll never forget you had one…unless your entire memory has to be deleted, like in Metal Shadow's case, or it causes you to be crazy and pretty much of no use, like Metal Knuckles.

"Hello!" Metal Shadow shouts again.

"Alright!" I shout. "For the second time! I know you are there!"

"Then let's get a move on."

If I could roll my eyes I would right now. Since I can't, I just continue on, looking back at Metal Knuckles once more as we head for the exit. Luckily we are out the door without any incident_._


	3. Arguments and New Discoveries

**_Chapter Two: Arguments and New Discoveries_**

We finally make it out of the base and into the town of Station Square. Being that it's late, nobody is walking around the malls and there are no cars speeding down the street. The streetlights, however are still on. I decide that it's best for us to use the darkness as cover in case somebody hasn't gone to bed yet and is snooping around. Luckily, Metal Shadow is in compliance with that and follows right behind me. We hide behind a building and sit to discuss.

"You have any bright ideas as to where to go?" I ask Metal Shadow in a whisper-like tone. "You were the one who suggested we have a destination."

"It wasn't such a bright idea to just go into town!" Metal Shadow yells at me in a loud whisper tone. "Do you want your butt fried? For all we know, Sonic is still up!"

"At midnight, I highly doubt so." I say.

" 'Highly doubt' and 'totally sure' are two different things, Metal Sonic." Metal Shadow says. "We're going to definitely get ourselves torn apart now because of your pea-brain idea to go into to—

"It was your idea too." I snap "You ought to quit pushing the blame on me. If you're going to act like this maybe you should have stayed with Eggman and came when you were ready!"

"And risk you getting your butt kicked by Sonic?" Metal Shadow questions. "I think not. We are still friends regardless, and whether you want to or not we will stick together, whether or not we are seeing eye to eye on plans or not. Remember that Metal Sonic."

"First of all, I can take him out—

"My rear end!" Metal Shadow interrupts me. "And you know it full well. You've tried to defeat Sonic many times and every time, you have been sent to that repair room! You need to stop being such a loner because it's going to get you nowhere at all—Well, nowhere but the trash can!"

"If you're just going to stand here and push all of the blame on me and act like you did absolutely nothing wrong, then you can just go back to Eggman!" I am now fully yelling by this point. "I for one am about done with your mouth!"

"Pipe down, or do you _want _to get destroyed?!"Metal Shadow yells.

Before I can even respond to him, I hear footsteps from around the corner. I see a glimpse of a hedgehog, much resembling Shadow running. Only differences between him and Shadow was that his streaks were pale blue, his eyes were green, and his fur was a shade lighter than Shadow's. He even had the same shoes and wristbands as Shadow's except where Shadow's were red, his were lightblue, and his power rings were silver. Oh…and another thing. The hedgehog didn't seem to have a mouth…well he didn't seem like he was supposed to have one, though his muzzle had a bad cut on it like someone tried to give him one. Before I could ask the hedgehog anything, he was gone. I see Sonic and Shadow chasing after him and I quickly go into hiding.

"Alright, Mephiles this is really getting old!" Shadow yells. "Do I really need to tell the commander to increase the security in that cage? I'm sure you won't like it one bit, but I am about done chasing after you every evening!"

"I don't get why you don't just shoot him…" I hear Sonic mumble.

I remain in hiding, hoping they don't see me. Metal Shadow is doing the same, sitting beside me, not making a sound. Well, that was until Metal Shadow accidentally pushes a button—in which I didn't even know I had—on my foot causing "Palmtree Panic" from Sonic CD to turn on. _Eggman can't be serious._ I think to myself._ He gave me a built in song button too?_

"My bad, my bad!" Metal Shadow shouts, trying to turn it off. Luckily, he gets it to shut up, but not before Sonic heard it.

"Thanks a lot!" I say in a whisper. "Now we're fried."

Sonic soon comes over to us, glaring once he figures out it is indeed us.

"Okay, so what did the Egghead send you out for this time?" Sonic asks us.

"Nothing!" Metal Shadow speaks up "Nothing at all! You see—

"I know that Eggman's robots don't just show up unless he has some kind of plan." Sonic interrupts. "It must be pretty important if you guys aren't spilling the beans on what it is."

"But there's no plan—

"Yeah, right." Sonic interrupts me.

Metal Shadow is quickly losing his temper. He stands up and kicks Sonic right in the leg. Luckily, Sonic avoids it by jumping out of the way, and Spin attacks him. He is pushed back a bit. I am standing up by this point.

"Alright, since I already knew this was coming, let's fight then, Sonic The Hedgehog." I announce, getting into a fighting position. "Let's see if you can take down the both of us on your own!"

* * *

_Sorry for that short chapter...but I wanted it to end in a cliffhanger for you! _

_Again sorry for not updating. I am planning to update more often now because these stories do need to get done.  
_

_Anyway hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be a fight with Sonic!  
_


	4. A Lost Fight and a Pysco Demon

**Chapter Three: A Lost Fight and a Psycho Demon**

Sonic, Metal Shadow, and I get into our fighting positions. Sonic is wearing his usual cocky smirk, thinking that taking us down will be easy. I have always hated that smirk; he always wears it when fighting Metal Shadow or I. He almost always wins easily and to some extent, I wish that I too could be able to be that way. Shadow seems to have abandoned us, and gone off in search of that other hedgehog that had been running earlier.

After several minutes of us staring each other down, Sonic decides to make the first move by Spin Attacking me. I manage to get out of the way; at the same time, Metal Shadow counterattacks with his own version of Shadow's Chaos Spear. Unlike Shadow, however, he doesn't need Chaos Emeralds to use his powers - Eggman programmed him to be able to use them automatically without the Emeralds. Sonic dodges with his speed, jumping back. I activate my jet-rocket and fly, kicking Sonic across the face. Sonic shoves me away and into a wall, but is immediately tackled down by Metal Shadow.

"You think you can just shove my friends around?" he asks, and scratches Sonic with his claws.

Sonic yelps in slight pain, but shoves Metal Shadow off. I am still a bit dazed from the shove, but I get up and attempt to tackle Sonic back down, but he manages to grab hold of me and fling me across the alleyway. This time, I slam into a building pretty hard. My vision fizzles out for a bit, and I go "unconscious" for a while.

Metal Shadow makes a robotic growl, and rushes at Sonic, only to get his arm grabbed and flung across the alleyway, slamming into me, and also getting knocked out. Well...That's what happens when not fighting on full power like we were doing. That and we were against Sonic...

_**(Third Person Point of View)**_

Sonic turns to walk off when he sees Shadow appear around the corner.

"Sorry, I had to take care of those two pieces of scrap metal." Sonic says, pointing to Metal Shadow and Metal Sonic. Shadow sighs and simply crosses his arms.

"So...did you find him?" Sonic asks after a few minutes.

"Now does it look like I did?" Shadow snaps. "He's gone! I almost had him and then he rounded the corner and totally vanished. Which is kind of...odd, considering he has the collar on that should be preventing him from using his powers. But then again, he is Mephiles The Dark...Unpredictable, psychotic demon."

"Isn't that why he got jailed in the first place?" Sonic questions. "Because he was acting like a psycho in town, and G.U.N. deemed him not stable or safe enough to be in town anymore?"

Shadow sighs, not looking at Sonic. Sonic, he knows, no longer knows of the events of six years ago with Elise, Iblis and Mephiles. In fact, nobody on Mobius does, except for himself, and Mephiles who somehow didn't forget them (Although Mephiles is forgetting now because he got severe anesthesia which he still needs to recover from) . As far as Sonic knows, Mephiles is just some psychotic, crazy demon/hedgehog who belongs in the crazy house.

"That and a few other things." Shadow replies, deciding to simply leave it at that. "Regardless, he needs to be found as soon as possible before he starts up trouble in the city"

"Well, what should we do with those two?" Sonic questions, pointing to Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow, who are still in "unconscious" mode on the ground. "I say take them to jail until Eggbutt comes and gets them. That way they can't carry out any plans that he may have, and we also might get some answers from them if they are imprisoned.".

"Hmph." Shadow huffs. "Sounds fine to me. They can stay there forever for all I care. But you are going to have to carry them there. I need to go get Mephiles as soon as possible."

"Whatever." Sonic says, shrugging. He picks up the fallen Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow and takes off running with them. Unfortunately, because Shadow is the one who has the card to get in and he has no card of his own, he is stuck waiting on Shadow to return, standing at the door of the G.U.N. HQ.

Meanwhile, Shadow is trying to find Mephiles, who is still nowhere to be found. He peeks around the corner of and into an alleyway.

"Mephiles...I swear, if you teleported, I am going to find you and I am going to tell that commander to increase the security in that cage and to get you a stronger collar, because obviously, this one isn't working on you."

There is no response, but the glow of two green eyes can be seen in the distance. Cyan streaks can also be seen glowing a bit. Shadow notices them and walks to them.

"I don't wanna go back to that jail!" the scared hedgehog says. The cut on his muzzle had gotten worse and his entire muzzle looked red. "Those soldiers-"

"Look, you are not allowed back in the world." Shadow snaps. "Why you are even alive is beyond me. Even though you forgot your actions due to your anesthesia you got in that explosion, you still have to be in jail, Mephiles, because we're not about to repeat the things you did. It's for your own good and for the world's own good, so just cooperate and there won't be any report on this to the commander."

"I never did anything bad!" Mephiles shouts. "Why can't I be out? I'm not hurting anybody."

"Yet." Shadow says. "Plus you can't be trusted on your own. Remember where free time at the jail went?"

"That was not my fault!" Mephiles shouts. "Nazo was the one who started it! I was just the one you caught hitting the other!"

"Not according to Rouge." Shadow says, crossing his arms. "I don't trust her either, but if you can't behave at free time in prison, who can trust you to behave in the real world? Now, lets go, or I am going to have to inject you with the sedative!"

"I'm not going!" yells Mephiles. He starts to run away, but Shadow tackles him and immediately injects sedative into him. Luckily, it's fast acting, so the hedgehog-demon is asleep within minutes. Shadow shakes his head and picks him up.

"I am going to be telling the commander about this." he mumbles, walking towards the G.U.N. HQ. "And have him increase the security on that cage so he can't get back out."

Upon arrival to the G.U.N. HQ, Shadow is greeted by a rather angry Sonic.

"What took you?" the impatient blue hedgehog asks, still carrying Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow.

"You really need to be more patient." Shadow huffs, putting his card in and opening up the door. Sonic goes in first and gets Metal Sonic and Metal Shadow put in a cage until Eggman is notified. Meanwhile, Shadow takes Mephiles directly to the commander's office...


	5. The Truth of GUN Jail

**Chapter Four: The Truth of G.U.N. Jail  
**

_**(Metal Sonic's Point Of View)**_

My vision finally turns back on when I hear a loud slam. I look around as my field of vision slowly but surely fades into view. I see that I am in a cell with Metal Shadow, who is already awake. We are in a cell, with a barred door and for some reason we are both chained to the bed poles. Nothing is in the room but a bunk bed and a desk and chair. The next thing to turn back on is my hearing, and I hear loud commotion from the other room.

"You're gonna cooperate right now, or I swear you will be whipped again!" Shadow yells in his loudest, angriest voice ever. Mephiles apparently has awakened, being the sedatives didn't last long on him. "I'm done with this! You are going to the commander!"

"No, I'm not!" I hear Mephiles holler. "I'm going back to my cell!"

"Keep it up, Mephiles, and I swear-"

Next thing I hear is a loud slam, and tons of glass breaking. I also hear Shadow yelling a ton (and I mean a ton) of profane language. Then, I hear a door fling open, apparently to the commander's office. Now the commander is yelling and Mephiles is hollering above everyone else. I hear something else hit the ground.

"That's it, you're coming with me!" booms the commander.

"Unhand me you-!"

"OWWW! Why you little! Agent Shadow, get that whip now!"

"I don't even want to know what is going on." Metal Shadow says after a few minutes.

"Me neither." I reply, trying to get a look at what is happening. I manage to scoot forward and peer around the corner.

Mephiles has trashed the entire hallway. Despite having the restraining collar on him, he was enraged, and still destroying everything. Shelves are knocked over, along with several picture frames. Glass is all over the floor. The commander has been punched in the face by Mephiles, and Shadow has the whip in his hand, having Mephiles backed into a corner, another cut on his face, which I assume to be from the whip, judging by the thwacking I heard earlier. The dark hedgehog has his fists clenched and is growling. Before Shadow can make a move with the whip, Mephiles pushes Shadow and goes running. Next thing I know SLAM!  
I scoot to avoid the door from falling on me as it flings open when Shadow slammed Mephiles rather harshly against it. Mephiles falls backwards and runs into the corner of the room, having nowhere else to go.

"Alright, Mephiles, you are done for the day!" Shadow growls, completely mad now.

I turn my head away as Shadow proceeds to whip Mephiles using the whip, which causes the demon-hedgehog to yell in pain. I look at the wall, and Metal Shadow simply watches everything. When that is all over, I look at Mephiles, who is now horribly cut up across the face and back. The cut on his muzzle is now a full blown mouth due to the extra injuries from the thing. He has little teeth that much resemble Scrouge's. Shadow grabs the chains that were against the wall, and ties Mephiles to the other end of the bed, and walks out, re-hinging the door. Mephiles has gone unconscious, and he looked pale and beat up.

_If this is what you get for escaping, I can only imagine what would happen to us for being Eggman's robots. _I think to myself. _I for one certainly don't want to know. Metal Shadow and I have got to get out of here... _I then glance at the beaten Mephiles, somehow feeling sorry for him. Judging by the scars on him, this is not the first time he´s seen that whip. He´s seen it many times, and not in a good manner either. _And we gotta take him with us too...or he will likely end up dead before long. Poor guy..._  
Metal Shadow begins to fiddle with the chains, while I look at the unconscious Mephiles in silence. Luckily, Mephiles doesn't stay unconscious for long, and wakes up a few minutes later. However, he is still startled into silence. He closes his eyes in pain and flops back down in the position he was originally in. I decide not to say anything to him.

At that moment, somebody turns off the lights, and I hear Shadow shout "Goodnight!" across the hallway. Then a slam, and the lock of the doors. If I wasn't already run down because of the battle from earlier, I would try to break us out, but my power is running out. Being that I don't have a charger right now, I can only put myself into "sleep" mode to try and restore some of my energy. I decide to do that for a few minutes, and then work on the escaping when I get up...


	6. It's Only The Beginning

**Chapter Five: It's Only The Beginning  
**

By the time I come out of sleep mode, I see that Metal Shadow managed to unchain himself and Mephiles, and is working on unchaining me. I see that he has also undone Mephiles's collar, and that Mephiles is now in Crystal Form, trying to pick the lock open with his claws. He looks drained from the beating he took yesterday, but nonetheless standing.

"About time you got up." Metal Shadow says. "You've been in sleep mode for over two hours! What's your deal?"

"Nothing." I respond as the chains click, indicating they have been undone.

"Well, anyway, as you can see, I pried open the locks to all of the chains ." Metal Shadow says. "You guys should be thanking me right now!"

"I was just about to do so." I respond, and look over at Mephiles. He is still trying to pick open the lock with one of his crystalline quills. I walk over to him, but he hisses at me.

"Don't you dare come any closer to me or I swear I'll kill you." he growls. "I've had it with all these idiots in this prison taking advantage of my state and not even bothering to help out any. Goes to show things are better off done alone."

"Woah woah woah, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you." I say. "I was just wondering if you were okay. Shadow whipped you pretty hard."

"What difference does it make?" Mephiles snarls. "You're unharmed and functioning just fine regardless. I don't see why my condition even matters to you. Whether I'm hurt or not, you and your little friend will be functioning just fine. So quit pretending you actually give a Chao's rear end and mind your business!"

"But we do give a Chao's rear end." Metal Shadow speaks up this time. "Stop being so snappy to us and let us help you out!"

Mephiles just growls at him and proceeds to try and pry open the lock with his claws. He soon is panting, and falls down on the ground. It's obvious he's been weakened, either by the beatings or by malnourishment, or both. He has sores all over him from yesterday's whippings, and his ribs can be seen through his matted fur. My question is how did he get malnourished if he never had a mouth to begin with? I shrug. I guess just because he didn't have a mouth doesn't mean he didn't feel hunger, I suppose. I wonder how he even ate then. Putting those thoughts aside, I pick Mephiles up to get him to the bed to lay down.

"Let go of me!" he barks, kicking his feet and acting like a child who got their favorite toy taken away. "I wanna stay where I was! I'm fine!"

"Yeah, you're fine..." Metal Shadow says sarcastically, crossing his arms. "And I think I saw a pig fly yesterday too."

"Why you little...!"

Mephiles tries to fire off a laser, but doesn't have the energy to. A dim purple light appears and then fades away. I put him into the bed, and he tries to get up, but he flops back down on the bed, panting. Metal Shadow gets to trying to pry open the lock of the cage again, while I stay by Mephiles to make sure that he doesn't go into a panic attack and/or faint out before Metal Shadow can get the door open.

Just as Metal Shadow is about to get the door open, I see the light turn on, and Shadow appears around the corner. Mephiles starts to growl again and I feel his claws extend. I look at Shadow, and he glares, seeing what Metal Shadow is trying to do

"What is the meaning of this?!" Shadow growls.

He flings open the door and it bangs against the wall. Metal Shadow jumps out of the way, and I cower in the bed area. Next thing I know, Shadow yanks my hand and also yanks Mephiles's.

"What's the big deal?" I shout, trying to get free. Mephiles hisses and scratches Shadow across the face, but Shadow smacks him.  
"Since we continue to not behave in here, I am taking you both to the commander." Shadow states. "Because I am not about to have this area be loud, noisy, and overall obnoxious for the remainder of the night. So the commander is going to take care of it. Give you guys new chains and harder locks."

"I think not!" Metal Shadow says at that moment. He grabs Shadow and slams him against the wall, which forces him to let go of Mephiles and I. I kick Shadow once he hits the wall and Mephiles manages to scratch him. However, Shadow had his gun on him and pulls it out.

"I swear, I will shoot if you guys don't cooperate." he growls.

Not a soul bothers to listen to him. Mephiles scratches Shadow again, and I hear Shadow fire his gun at him. It barely misses his head, and instead grazes his shoulder. Metal Shadow and I proceed to attack Shadow with kicks and punches, and he continues to fire off his gun, managing to land shots in all of us, but none in any vital areas yet. I look over at Mephiles, who looks like he is going to fall out at any moment. He is obviously too weak to be battling in his current starved and beaten state. But Shadow, he seems not to care at all. He continued to shoot at him, and also occasionally use his Chaos Spear. Before long, Mephiles is brought down onto his knees, but still fighting. Shadow grabs his gun, and slowly moves in for the finishing blow, obviously having blown his top too far to not finish him.

"Stop!" I shout, stepping in front of Mephiles, protecting the beaten hedgehog from getting hurt any more. His eyes go wide seeing me do this, before he reverts to hedgehog form, too tired to maintain his Crystal Form anymore, and he passes out on the floor.

"Move!" Shadow shouts.

"And let you kill someone for absolutely no reason?" I shout. "That's wrong. I've been ordered to do that numerous times by Eggman. Always found it wrong and always will. You've dealt your punishment, so if you want to take us to the commander, fine. Just leave Mephiles alone, or deal with me."

"And deal with me too!" Metal Shadow chimes in, standing next to me now.

"I'm not the least bit afraid of you, you piles of junk." Shadow snaps. "I really don't care. You can either let me finish with Mephiles and you can sit and wait until Eggman gets you guys, or you can just be shut down and not see another day. Personally, I don't care which anymore."

"And here we still stand." Metal Shadow says, crossing his arms. "And here you still sit, running your big yap."

"That's it!" Shadow snaps. "I've had it!"

Shadow slams Metal Shadow into the wall, as the door flings open to reveal none other than the G.U.N. Commander...


	7. A New Ally

_**Chapter Si**__**x: A new Ally**_

At the sight of the commander, we freeze in place. Shadow is frozen in place with his gun to Metal Shadow's head, I am about to stick my claws in Shadow's chest, and Mephiles is still passed out. The commander does not look very pleased; whether it's not pleased with all or some of us, I can't tell. All I know is that once he leaves, he's going to have to get a body bag for his agent if he makes any more advancement towards Metal Shadow.

"Alright, everyone, what is the meaning of this?!" demands the commander in an angry tone.

Being that the room is dimly lit, my sight processors can't identify a lot of the commander's features. I do know that he is a human of some sort, and I can see the G.U.N. logo on his uniform. After a few minutes of silence, Shadow finally speaks up.

"Well, sir," he begins, glaring at Metal Shadow. He still has not removed the gun from his head. "I caught these three trying to escape. Apparently Eggman's little robots here have claws that are small enough to pick the locks. Not to mention they are all being exceptionally loud and, might I add, obnoxious. So I came in here and attempted to take them to you for punishment suggestions, but they put up a fight. I was merely trying to defend myself."

_You call beating us all nearly to pulps, nearly killing Mephiles, and purposely putting a gun to my best friend's head "defending yourself?" What a joke, Shadow. You aren't fooling anyone. I know that you wanted to kill us. _I think to myself. I keep the thoughts inside, however, and look at the commander.

"Is that so?" the commander asks, looking at Metal Shadow, Mephiles and I. "Well, being that I'm here now, why don't I just take these three, and we'll discuss the situation. I'll determine what to do from there."

Shadow simply gives a nod and moves aside as the commander moves to grab us. I ball my hand in a fist.

"You're not taking us anywhere as long as I'm standing." I yell, reaching my hand out to punch him, but I am stopped and slammed onto the floor. I go into an automatic shutoff due to the impact...

After what seems like hours, I manage to turn myself back on. As my vision slowly goes back into focus, I notice that I am no longer in our cell. I am in an office of some short and sitting in a swivel chair. Beside me, Mephiles and Metal Shadow sit with blank faces. Mephiles must have been given some kind of medication for his pain, as his eyes look a little glossy, showing signs that he is probably loopy. Metal Shadow appears not to have been awake for long, as his eyes look fuzzy and flash off every now and then. I look in front of us and notice a large wooden desk almost towering above us. Papers sit on the desk in neat piles, and a computer, which is on screensaver, flashes the G.U.N. logo on its screen. The room is pretty empty aside from the desk and the floors are in soft grey carpeting. A large window is behind the desk and the full moon shines through it.

"Yes...Alright then, I'll let you handle them. Good day."

I hear the sound of the phone in the other room being hung up, and the commander walks in. I clench my hands in fists again, while Metal Shadow makes a robotic growl. Mephiles is too loopy to care.

"Well, I just got done contacting Eggman, and he will be here to get you both shortly." the commander says simply.

"What happened to talking about the situation?" Metal Shadow snaps.

"I decided not to and to just simply contact Eggman." the commander says. "There's things I need to do, and why should I waste my time talking to robots when I can just send them back to where they came from? You are Eggman's objects anyway and his responsibility. All you are doing right now is disrupting the things that need to be done around here. As for Mephiles...well, he has another thing coming."

"You had better not hurt him!" I shout. "You can take me back to Eggman, do whatever you want with me, but you're not going to hurt him any more than he already is thanks to you guys!"

"What we do with him is not a robot's business!" the commander shouts. "Your business is to serve Eggman and get busted by Sonic! That's all that you need to worry about. Anything else is not your business."

"That's what everyone says." I shout, my eyes flashing a bright red. "You think just because we are machines means we have no feelings and all we're good for is being destroyed! Well it's not SO!"

I get up from my swivel chair and kick it straight at the commander. Luckily, it misses and hits the wall rather harshly, causing Metal Shadow and Mephiles to cringe and causing a picture to fall down and the frame to break. Metal Shadow grabs onto me.

"Metal...your temper!" he warns. "You don't want to go into Overload mode again, do you?"

"But it is so." the commander says coldly. "Face it, all you are is a hunk of metal. Eggman always thinks you and his other piles of junk will succeed, but all and all, you all will fail. You will be trashed by Sonic and then melted and never seen again."

"That...isn't TRUE!" I snap, kicking the desk. Luckily the commander leaves at that moment after shouting a "good day!", and slams the door. I am still steaming mad at the commander.  
Mephiles sits at his chair, a shocked expression seen on his face amidst the loopiness. He blinks his green eyes a few times before speaking.

"I...I have no words to say right now..." he says, struggling to find his voice with the shock and slight loopiness, which was now wearing away. "Someone actually cares about me and wants to get me out of here."

"Two someones." Metal Shadow adds. "I just wasn't the one who lost his temper...Metal!"

I look away.

"Anyway...either way, someone cares." Mephiles continues, pretty much dismissing the comments. "And...I'm sorry for earlier. I tend to get that way when I'm not sure if someone actually means what they are saying. But after what I just witnessed, I feel that you two will keep your word."

"We can't just leave you here." I say. "They'd kill you."

"I know it." Mephiles says, looking down at the ground. "Under normal circumstances, I might have been able to do something myself, but with this collar and my weakness from not having had anything to sustain me, I am going to need help if I plan to get out of here alive. I never thought I would say that, but I'm finally realizing it after being stuck here for so many years. I want so much to change myself just like you do, but I never got much of a chance. People knew me, and I was foolish and got myself captured. Have tried to escape every day, just like what you saw back in the city, but they always caught me, and whipped me hard with the whip when I got back. Shadow almost always is the one to whip me. I know I am crazy, but I just want to be given a chance instead of being locked away"

"Well," I say, "We are here to help you get out of here and for you to get that chance. We're trying to change our ways too. Hey, we can all be in a group together!"

"I guess." Mephiles says. "Though I am normally a loner in the long run."

"How about making a change to that?" I ask, and hold out my hand.

"I can try." Mephiles says softly, and shakes my hand, signifying that we have just gained a new alliance.


	8. From Bad to Worse

_I finally have new a nicer cover picture for this story! Let me know what you all think of it!  
_

_Be prepared for a surprise coming soon! Anyway, enjoy the chapter._

* * *

**Chapter Seven: From Bad to Worse  
**

"Well it's lovely that we got a new alliance, Metal, but we still have a bigger problem at hand." Metal Shadow cuts off the "happy" moment. "Have you know, the commander said he contacted Eggman, which means our butts are fried unless we do something _NOW!" _

"I'm actually surprised that you two are so up at arms about Eggman." Mephiles says. "He's been here before. He tried to take me to his base a week ago. Knocked him right out."

"And I am sure you probably had a little more strength in you then." Metal Shadow says. "But you're probably the weakest of all three of us right now. Even so, we're still weak ourselves..."

I know full well that what Metal Shadow is saying is true. We both haven't been charged since yesterday, and I for one am starting to run out of power. I see the same thing is happening with Metal Shadow, as his red eyes have become a little bit dimmer than they should be. Not to mention we both are in need of a repair shop...Well, at least Metal Shadow is. I just have a few dents, but Metal Shadow is worse off. His silver metal is scratched and dented, and I think that something is wrong with his left arm, since he hasn't been able to move it much since we fought Sonic. Still, even with those things, we are better off than Mephiles is. Being that Mephiles is so skinny and battered up thanks to that whip, I am doubting he'd last more than five minutes against Eggman. Which means we are going to have to find a way to escape while making sure Mephiles gets into as little of the combat as possible.

"Why don't we just wait til Eggman is here and take him on ourselves, Metal?" Metal Shadow asks, looking to me for advice. Every once in awhile he does that. Although he likes to make his own decisions, he knows that I am older than him by a long mile, and knows that I am more knowledgeable in making decisions like these. Afterall, I was one of Eggman's oldest robots, though I have been updated many times. The only three that are older than me are Silver Sonic, Mecha Sonic, and Metal Sonic 1.0. Those three though... Chaos only knows where they ended up, and I don't really care either. Those three were nothing but a bunch of butt-holes anyway. They constantly made a mess of the base, and then blamed me for it,. Eggman, being the idiot he's always been, always believed their story over mine, and I was always the one being punished for things that _I stood there and watched them do._ However, they vanished a little over a year ago and were never seen again. Eggman thinks they probably ended up shutting off in the middle of nowhere because like Metal Shadow and I, they needed to charge. Being they were older models, they need charged much more than we have to. But still, there is the slim possibility of them being around somewhere, if someone had found them.

"Metal?" Metal Shadow asks, waving his hand in my face. "Metal? Hello?"

"I heard you." I respond, snapping away from my thoughts. "I think it's better off trying to find an escape route."

"Well, good luck with that." Mephiles says, snorting as he crosses his arms. "I've been trying to do that for years. Look where that went."

"Well thanks so much for the vote of confidence, Mephiles!" Metal Shadow says.

"Yeah!" I agree.

"Sorry, but it's the truth." Mephiles says. "You're not going to have any luck. This place is constantly under guard for escapees."

"And those guards have to sleep sometime." I say.

"And we're under a time frame!" Metal Shadow shouts. "What part of the fact that they called Eggman and he is on his way to get us don't you understand?"

I don't respond; I wish Mephiles would offer some ideas instead of being so negative about the situation.

"We're just going to have to hop in then." I say after a few minutes.

"Then we're just as good as dead." Mephiles mumbles. "Unless..."

"I'm listening." both Metal Shadow and I say.

However, instead of finishing his sentence, Mephiles grabs each of us by an arm, and we are dragged off.

"H-hey!" Metal Shadow shouts. "Wh-where are we going?"

"We're going out of here, that's where." Mephiles whispers. "I just remembered that I can still disarm the alarm system. Now keep your voice down...You don't want us to get caught, do you?"

Metal Shadow says nothing further as Mephiles leads us on. He looks over at me. By this point, I am not really feeling like speaking much, as I feel my power is reaching a critical low. The room looks dim.

"Metal?" Metal Shadow asks me. "Metal, your eyes look really dim...are you alright? Hello? You seem to be zoning out a lot more this evening. Are you sick? Don't tell me you have a virus like Metal Knuckles did..."

"I'm...fine..." I manage to get out softly. "My...power's...just...low..."

"You have to hang on, okay?" Metal Shadow says. "I am sure if we get out of here we can find a place to charge you up at. I'm not so good on my power either. But you can't shut down now. If you need to, go into sleep mode, but don't shut down, not at a time like this."

I don't respond, not feeling like speaking. I am just focused on forcing myself to stay online even though my system is shutting down due to low power. This is what happens when we don't get charged regularly. We shut down. But I usually hold a charge longer than most and me becoming like this after only a night of not being charged has me a little bit concerned. I don't feel sick, so I shouldn't have any viruses. My system report scans that come out every morning automatically have shown me that everything in me is working just fine. Shoving the thoughts of viruses aside, I watch on as Mephiles approaches the door. The guards are on coffee break, so nobody is at the doors. Mephiles flips open the alarm pad, enters a bunch of digits, and soon I can barely make out the words SECURITY DISARMED on the pad in blue letters.

That's all I remember seeing before I blacked out, faintly hearing Metal Shadow hollering my name as I do.


	9. Revelations

**Chapter Eight: Revelations**

Although I am fainted out because my power has gotten too low, my auditory processors can still pick up the sounds of what is going on around me, although it is faint. I've just shut off everything else, since I don't have enough power to keep those things online.

"Metal!" Metal Shadow shouts, shaking me. "Metal, please! Wake up!"

Of course, I don't turn back on, but as he shakes me, I feel something crawling on me. Not anything that's outside of me, but something inside. It burns a lot. I feel my eyes briefly flash something, although I don't know what, since I am still mostly offline. I start to shake uncontrollably. Suddenly, my entire field of hearing disappears, and I go completely still, not seeing, hearing or feeling a thing..

**(**_**Third Person POV)**_

"Oh gosh, no...No! No! NOOO!" Metal Shadow shouts, in a panic. "Metal, please! Wake up! Please wake up!"

"Would you please shut up?" Mephiles snaps. "If you keep running your pie hole, we're going to be caught!"

"I don't care!" Metal Shadow shouts back. "Look at Metal's eyes! He's _dying, _Mephiles, and you don't even care!"

"Look, he's fine, he's just low on power." Mephiles snaps back. "When we get out of here, we can get him recharged and he'll be up and running! But if you continue to yack, we're just going to get caught and he'll never be turned back on!"

"This isn't just low power, Mephiles, SOMEBODY put a virus in him!"

"Oh come on, who is there to do it? Shadow and Sonic don't have the intelligence and I am sure Eggman wouldn't put a virus in his own robot. So who else could have done it?"

"Don't you remember what the commander did?"

* * *

****FLASHBACK****

_The commander has finally had enough with everyone, and decided to force them to go with him to his office. Metal Sonic reached out to punch the commander, when he throws Metal Sonic at the wall, causing him to turn off on impact. Little did Metal Sonic know, before the commander threw him, he'd plugged something into one of his back sockets, and took it out, once the commander knew it'd done its job. He then threw Metal Sonic at the wall, which made it look like he'd turned off from the impact, but he'd turned off temporarily as the virus that had been put in via the cartridge could settle - laying dormant at the time - into his system. Since it had been dormant, Metal Sonic had no clue about it until they had started to escape._

_Metal Shadow had seen the cartridge, but he'd shut off completely before he could do anything to help his friend and brotherly figure. Mephiles was too loopy to even do anything if his life had depended on it. The virus, as it laid dormant, had taken Metal Sonic's power faster than normal. Thus, Metal Sonic just thought it was due to not being charged he'd turned off.. But all and all, it was the virus that shut him off..._

* * *

"Wait a second..." Mephiles says, looking at Metal Shadow with wide eyes. "That cartridge...I remember it. A little bit but not really. You don't think it was..."

"It was." Metal Shadow says. "It was a virus. What kind, I don't know. But I know one thing, if we don't get Metal to someone who is knowledgeable, who can get it out of his system, his system's going to be destroyed and he will die! And I don't know where I'd be without him...I would be broken. He's my big brother, in my eyes, even though we have no relation. After all, I wasn't originally created by Eggman...at least that's what I'm told."

"Regardless about all this extra junk, even if we did find someone knowledgeable, it'll probably be too late for them to do anything anyway." Mephiles says. "He's already turned off, and we're not even halfway out of this base, and who knows how long we have until these guards get off coffee break? And at this rate that we are going, we are probably going to have to fight the guards before we're out of here. The exit is probably more heavily guarded than the prison rooms. Not to mention that Chaos only knows where Shadow is, and if we run into him again we are as good as dead, judging by how much injury he dealt to us last time we battled him. We might as well put Metal Sonic in the dumpster! We are never going to be able to get the virus out in time."

"I am not giving up on him!" Metal Shadow yells. "Not after everything he's done for me, and not after everything we've gone through over the years! As long as there's even an inkling of a chance that he could possibly be able to make it out of this, I am going to keep trying. And your negative thoughts on the matter are not going to change my mind."

"They aren't negative thoughts." Mephiles says. "They are just simple facts. Facts that you refuse to accept and thus, you are yelling to me because I said them."

"Hmph!" Metal Shadow snaps. "So I guess you can now predict the future? I guess you know for sure that Metal is going to die? You know for sure that we are going to be bombarded with guards? Hah! You don't know anything. You just fake that you do, just like you did in '06 when you lied to Shadow about his future. Made it look so real. All and all it was a bunch of garbage. He almost believed you but he was smart about it. That's one thing I give Shadow credit for."

"And contrary to your belief and contrary to Shadow's belief, that is his future!" Mephiles shouts. "He has no clue about that commander. I do! I didn't tell him but that commander is going to be what puts his butt in jail. Now I could care less. He belongs there for all I care. As far as Metal goes, he's going to die; it's a deadly virus! So let's just can him and get on with the show."

"You're just out for yourself." Metal Shadow snaps. "I should've known. All you are is a manipulative, selfish, piece of crap! If you actually gave a Chao's rear end about anyone but yourself you'd help Metal instead of saying 'oh let's can him because he turned off!'"

"Then go your own way then!" yells Mephiles. "I don't need two hunks of trash following me around anyway! I have more important things to do besides drag two trash cans around! That's why I'm a loner! People tagging along - specifically smelly robots such as yourselves - just waste my time!"

" - "

Before anyone else can say a word, the doors behind the two bust open. Guards come in from all directions, armed with various guns and other weapons and swarm around them.

"Put your hands up, and we won't have to shoot!"


	10. EscapeWith A Price

**Chapter Nine: Escaped...With A Price**

Metal Shadow and Mephiles both get into their fighting positions, preparing to fight the guards. Mephiles is still holding onto Metal Sonic, who is fainted out from the virus.

"This is your last warning." one of the guards shouts. "Put your hands up or we will have to shoot!"

"As you can see, we are not going to do it." Mephiles says, snorting. "So why warn us. Let's go then, you bunch of -

Metal Shadow elbows Mephiles rather harshly as if to tell him "That's not going to help us!" Mephiles just rolls his eyes at him. If Metal Sonic wasn't in his arms, Metal Shadow probably would have done more to Mephiles. It's seeming that the robot is quickly becoming aggravated with Mephiles and is viewing him more of an enemy than an ally. He knows about his manipulative tactics that he pulled in '06, and can tell by the dark hedgehog's tone about Metal Sonic and whatnot, that he has to be hiding something. He's beginning to feel that perhaps Mephiles is lying about his "wanting to change for the better" story. Afterall, once a demon, always a demon.

"Alright, since you refuse to cooperate, you leave us no choice but to shoot." one of the guards declares, aiming his gun at Mephiles. Mephiles growls and throws Metal Sonic aside, seeming to suddenly have gone into a feral mode. His claws have extended and he tackles one of the guards down. Meanwhile, Metal Shadow is rushing to get Metal Sonic.

A guard is standing in Metal Shadow's way, gun pointed at him. Metal Shadow shoves him aside and rushes to Metal Sonic. He slides to his knees and picks up Metal Sonic.

Meanwhile, Mephiles has downed several guards by this point using his claws. He still has the restraining collar, so he has no access to his Chaos Control, but fortunately for him, he has his crystalline claws. He shoves the downed guards at the wall, just as something falls onto the ground.

It was a cartridge, labeled VIRUS CURE. Mephiles was too busy beating the brains out of guards to care to notice it, but Metal Shadow noticed. He grabs it and examines it.

_Why would a guard have this? _he asks himself. I _would think that it would be with the commander, not in a guard's pocket. That is, if this is even the real cure. Who's to say it isn't another virus? _He then looks down at Metal Sonic, who is still turned off. Oil is leaking from his chest, where a bit of melting metal seems to have come. Knowing that if this virus continued to be left untreated, there would be absolutely no chance of Metal Sonic surviving, he decides to take the chance of perhaps making the virus become untreatable. In the background, the guards are shooting away like there is no tomorrow. Miraculously, despite being grazed with a few bullets, Metal Shadow seems unaffected by this.

Mephiles is taking care of most of the other guards using his claws. He occasionally tries to get the collar off, but he fails to do so. The thing is on pretty securely, and probably won't be able to be removed without some kind of special key. A key that may never be able to be found, however. Despite having been able to down the guards pretty quickly, Mephiles is quickly becoming exhausted. After all, he hasn't had anything to eat in Chaos only knows how long, and he has been running purely on his Dark Chaos Energy. That's not helping much since the collar restricts a lot of his Dark Chaos Energy flow, thus preventing him from using his Dark Chaos powers such as his Dark Chaos Lance and whatnot. Despite panting like crazy, Mephiles proceeds on, trying to hold the guards back.

Taking no regard to what Mephiles is doing, Metal Shadow grabs the cartridge and puts it into the back of Metal Sonic. He holds the cartridge in for about a minute so it could do its job, and then takes it back out. He then tries to turn on Metal Sonic. His red eyes turn on, but they are flickering a lot. Metal Sonic then shuts off again.

"No!" Metal Shadow shouts. "Metal, I can't lose you, not now! You're like a brother to me! I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you were declared non functional and would have to be destroyed. We already lost Metal Knuckles. We already lost Silver Sonic. Mecha Sonic, I don't even care about, he was violent from day one! But Metal, I _can't _lose you! Please..._please _turn on!"

Metal Shadow tries to turn Metal Sonic on again. This time, he turns on, but like before, his eyes are flickering like crazy. He looks at Metal Shadow, then at the melting metal on his chest before he turns his eyes off again. Metal Shadow grabs a rag that was laying around and puts it on the "wound", tying it at the back so it would act as a bandage until they would be able to get Metal Sonic to a repair man.

"Metal..you're alive." Metal Shadow says softly.

Metal Sonic appears to be too low on power to be able to really do anything. However, he turns his head to his "little brother" and grabs a hold of his hand as if to tell him "thank you" for saving him from the virus. Metal Shadow holds his "big brother's hand".

"I hate to cut off your brother-to-brother time, you two, but I need some help with these guards! Immediate help, for that matter!" Mephiles says at that moment. "So, in other words, Metal Shadow, get your butt up and help me before we all end up getting killed!"

"Okay." Metal Shadow says, giving off a robotic sigh. He looks at Metal Sonic. "I will protect Metal Sonic since he is already injured."

"I hate to sound rude but if you want my honest opinion. I could seriously give a monkey's butt less what you do. I need the help right now!"

Metal Shadow rolls his robotic eyes and gets up so Mephiles will be quiet about this whole situation. He stands guard over Metal Sonic, and attacks any guards that come near him. Metal Sonic, who can't even fight at all, watches in silence. Metal Shadow gives it all his all, despite being hurt and dented up his own self, but he takes the bullets for Metal Sonic, despite already having about five wedged in his head already throughout the course of this fight. However, being a robot, the head shots pretty much do nothing to harm him. Later, he would take them out and there would be almost no evidence of them being there at all. Metal Sonic obviously wants to help Metal Shadow, but his power is too low for him to even do anything. Metal Shadow continues to protect Metal Sonic, as the gunfire continues. Laser guns have now been pulled out, and the fire is pretty intense over just three people. But Mephiles' fighting has pushed them to do this. On it goes until...

_**BANG! THUMP! CLANG!**_

"_**THAT'S IT! DARK CHAOS LANCE!"**_

"_**W-AAAAAHHHHHH!"**_

_**BOOM! BANG! KABOOOM!**_

* * *

_**(Metal Sonic's POV)**_

I open my eyes as I hear that sound. My vision is blurry: Fuzzy around the edges and dim in the middle. My auditory processors can register nothing but silence, and I hear heavy pants coming from Mephiles. The room's full of dead or dying guards and the alarm system has been busted. I look in front of me, and see one of the most horrifying scenes of my life.

Metal Shadow is laying there on his side, shot with a guard's laser gun right in his engine. The entire bottom side of him has been blown to shreds, and his eyes are turned off. I touch Metal Shadow gently, despite being low on power.

"Metal Shadow..." I say softly.

Metal Shadow's eyes turn on, revealing dim orangy-red eyes.

"M...M...Metal...Sonic..." he says weakly, grabbing a hold of me. "I...I'm sorry..."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" I ask him, looking into his eyes.

"I'm s...sorry..." Metal Shadow says. "I'm...sorry...I won't...I'm sorry I won't be there...to...see... to accompany you...outside of this jail..."

"Don't say that!" I snap. "You're gonna pull through, and I know it! Mephiles could fix you, anybody can fix you!"

"I wish...I wish it was that simple..." mumbles Metal Shadow, his system starting to power itself down for the last time. "I'm...I'm finished...But I...I have no regrets. You'll be...You'll be happy. That's...That's all I really wanted. since day one. You're...You're pretty much a brother to me...And I want you to...I want you to promise...I want you to promise that...you will...live...life...happy..."

His eyes turn off at that moment, and I know for sure that they will never turn on again. I sit there, in total silence, devastated. My best friend, my partner...my _brother _ has died. Died just to save my own metal. I bow my head, and grab his hand one last time.

"I promise, Metal Shadow..." I say in a soft voice. "I promise I will live life happy for you."


	11. Trust is a Horrible Thing

**Chapter Ten:Trust is a Horrible Thing**

I stand there, staring down at Metal Shadow, who is officially dead. I keep trying to get him to turn back on, but it does no good. He's officially done, and there's nothing that can be done to revive him. Mephiles is standing over a pile of dead guards, without his collar on. My eyes brighten a few levels as I look at him.

"Why, Mephiles?" I ask. "Why did you do this? Why did you kill him, Mephiles?"

"Listen, Metal, I -"

"I care not to hear your excuses." I interrupt. "They're probably just lies anyway. All you are is one big lie."

"You don't understand -"

"And I don't want to." I interrupt. "I want nothing to do with you after what you have done to my brother."

Mephiles turns away from me and sighs, his arms crossed. I notice he is now in crystal form despite the dim lights. He starts to walk out of the room, but before leaving, he turns to me.

"You'll regret this moment, Metal Sonic." he says, glaring at me with his reptilian green eyes. "I merely wanted to be your friend. If I didn't, do you think I would be helping you fight these guards? I would have let them all barrel you after I'd gotten my collar off. But I didn't do that, did I? Instead I protected you while you were being saved from that virus!"

"Oh, you probably wanted to use me for something." I say, crossing my arms. "You probably had no use for Metal Shadow, or you just wanted to see me in pain in hopes I would be more inclined to listen to you! Guess what? You failed!"

"Metal Shadow was killed by a misfired Chaos Lance of mine." Mephiles says, still not sounding the least bit phased by my angry remarks. "Contrary to your belief, I do feel bad about it. But going on and on about something that we can't change just wastes time. We both have more important things to worry about than going on about something we can't fix."

"Maybe you can let this go, but I can't." I say. "Metal Shadow was nothing to you. But to me, he was all I had on this trip. He was my only ally and you killed him! Now I'm stuck in the world alone because of you, you inconsiderate demon!"

I reach out to punch Mephiles, but he grabs onto my hand, stopping me from doing anything.

"Do you think this is what Metal Shadow really wants?" Mephiles says, still not letting go of my hand. "Do you think Metal Shadow wants you to be upset about his death and in turn get yourself killed because you are going on about it?"

I pause for a moment, and look at Mephiles. I begin to think about Metal Shadow. No. He wouldn't really want this. He would want me to live on and not go on about his death. Aside from Metal Shadow's death, Mephiles has done nothing to me. Does that mean I should trust him? No I-

"I can see that's a no." Mephiles interrupts my thoughts. "And aside from accidentally killing Metal Shadow, what else have I done to you? You really shouldn't have anything against me...after all had I not protected Metal Shadow when he was working to cure your virus, you wouldn't be with us right now. You ought to be thanking me actually."

"I...I guess maybe I should." I say, looking at the ground. Mephiles lets go of my arm at that moment, and I put it by my side. "I guess...I will trust you for now." I add in a whispered tone, hoping he doesn't hear it.

"Good, then you have nothing to worry about, Metal Sonic." Mephiles says. "As long as you trust me, then you have nothing to worry about. You help me, and I will help you."

"Okay." I say, still not sounding one hundred percent sure. I am not sure whether to trust Mephiles or not, but he just seems to know what "emotional buttons" on people to push. I'd feel bad trusting him because I am not entirely sure that Mephiles truly wants to turn over a new leaf, but I feel bad not trusting him because all and all, he has not actually done anything to me except for accidentally killing Metal Shadow. He did help fight the guards, and who is to say that it wasn't actually an accident that he killed Metal Shadow? There's just no evidence proving that this was nothing but a very unfortunate mistake. For now, I have no choice but to trust him and hope that this isn't one of his old manipulative tricks. If it is, I am sure that it will be revealed in full with some time.

"Now that we have all of that straightened out, let's get out of this place." Mephiles says. "Before the commander shows up, or worse, Eggman. I'm sure you wouldn't want Eggman to show up, now would you?"

I don't respond, but I nod to Mephiles, indicating that I heard him. Even though I told him that I do indeed trust him, I do not trust him fully. I never will trust him fully. After all, I still don't believe his entire story about it being an accident that he killed Metal Shadow with a Chaos Lance. After all, it's kind of hard to miss a robot who is sitting right in front of you trying to help somebody else. However, something within me is stopping me from flat out abandoning Mephiles. I'm not quite sure what it is. Perhaps it's sorrow? Mephiles is not too well off, and something about that bothers me despite the fact that he probably deserves it one hundred percent. I guess I must have a sense of caring. I always have had that my entire life though I kept that hidden from Eggman. Had he ever seen that, he would say that I am defective and destroy me, just like he did with this other robot he created a while back named Metal Silver.

Metal Silver, oddly enough, had a personality similar to the actual Silver himself, which Eggman didn't intend, but it happened that way anyway. He was naive, and had a strong sense of right and wrong. He had a very caring personality. When Eggman saw it, he told us he was defective and would need to be destroyed. At that time, I was only a year or so old and for some reason I didn't understand it, so I didn't really care at the time. However now, I understand why Metal Silver was destroyed, and decided to hide any and all caring for anybody anytime I was around Eggman to avoid the same fate as Metal Silver. Well, until I got tired of Eggman and left like I did yesterday.

My thoughts are interrupted when Mephiles yanks my hand, yanking me towards the HQ's exit.

"Come on, before Eggman comes!" he yells. "We don't have all day. Unless you want to go back to that cell and be alone, that is."

I don't say anything, but I follow Mephiles' lead as he leads me towards the exit of the HQ. I make sure that my hand is slightly loose in his grip, in case he decides he wants to pull something once we get out of here. That way, I can easily just yank away and flee if I need to, and despite being low on power, my speed should be enough to get away if it's necessary.

Mephiles and I soon reach the HQ exit, and just as he is about to push the door open:

**_FWOOM! BANG!_**

The door swings open to reveal none other than Dr. Eggman…and he is not looking pleased at all.

"So, you decided to escape without my knowledge again, Metal Sonic?" he asks me. "This time, I am going to send you to the wastebasket because I am through with your disobedience! You're obviously defective. Whatever you have must have missed my defect-detecting computers."

I turn, expecting Mephiles to maybe offer me some support, to see him bolting away via an open corner.

"Mephiles!" I shout, reaching my hand out.

"Hasta la bye bye, piece of scrap metal!" he calls as he disappears from sight. "He's _your_ problem now."

If Eggman was not blocking my path, I would have chased after that demon and gave him a thorough beat down for starting to earn my trust, and then immediately turning around and betraying me like this, leaving me to fight Eggman alone. However, I decide to let him go for now, and get him later. My focus now is fighting Eggman. However, how is a robot such as myself supposed to defeat his own master?


	12. Battles Hurt

**Chapter Eleven: Battles Hurt**

I turn to Eggman, trying to focus myself for the fight, but my "mind" is still stuck on the fact that Mephiles simply canned me like he did. It makes me angry and somewhat upset that he would dare do such a thing when he knew he was earning my trust. Trust—Trust is a horrible thing and I wish I never trusted Mephiles. I should have known that he would do this, since everyone knows he is out for nobody's benefit but his own. But me and my caring nature, felt sorry for him. I'm a robot; I shouldn't care about anybody, but for some reason I do. I never will understand why. I think Eggman made an error he didn't notice when he made me, and an error that I probably will never actually discover what exactly is.

I watch as Eggman pushes a button, releasing…

"Metal Knuckles?!" I shout out, seeing the robotic echidna. He looks exactly like Knuckles, except more robotic.

"We are not friends anymore, Metal Sonic…" Metal Knuckles says, his eyes flashing red as he stares at me.

"What?!" I say, somewhat shocked.

"Ohohohohoh!" Eggman laughs. "You thought that I wouldn't get around to fixing him, didn't you? Well, while you and Metal Shadow were off on your unwelcome stroll, I fixed Metal Knuckles to fight you in case you decided to refuse to return the easy way. Now you have a choice: Either come the easy way and maybe I won't put you in the wastebasket for disobedience, or do it the hard way and hurt another friend of yours, then go to the wastebasket!"

I don't say anything for awhile, turning away. _Why? _I think to myself. _Why must I be forced to make a decision like this? I already lost Metal Shadow, I already was betrayed by Mephiles, and now I am going to have to decide both to go back to Egghead or hurt, and possibly kill my second best friend? This is just too much for me to take in one day, people…Just flat out too much._

_"_Well, I am waiting." Eggman says, crossing his arms, causing me to get interrupted from my thoughts. "What shall it be? The easy or the hard way?"

Knowing I've come too far to simply surrender to Eggman, I brace myself for more physical and emotional pain, and get into fighting position.

"I'm not going to just surrender to you, not after Metal Shadow's sacrifice, and not after how far I've come!" I say.

"Very well then, have it your way, Metal, but don't say that I didn't give you a chance." Eggman says. "Metal Knuckles, attack!"

Metal Knuckles prepares to fight as well and I await him to make the first move. He charges at me, and I charge back at him. I tackle him to the ground, and we immediately are in a wrestling match, rolling along the concrete sidewalk that leads out of the G.U.N. HQ property.

"Metal Knuckles, I don't want to hurt you…I know you're still in there somewhere!" I say softly in an attempt for Eggman not to hear me, but still wanting Metal Knuckles to be able to.

"I was never your friend to begin with." Metal Knuckles says, punching me hard across the head. Somehow, I can feel the pain. Perhaps it was just that strong of a hit, or part of the malfunction or virus I have. However, I don't let anyone know and it's fairly easy to keep the pain hidden since I'm a robot.

"You know that's not true, Metal Knuckles." I say softly, kicking him in an attempt to get him off of me. "Don't you remember all those fun times you had with Metal Shadow and I? Metal Shadow's dead and I don't want to lose you too."

"If you don't want to lose me, then why don't you just surrender?" Metal Knuckles growls, slamming me against the wall. I wince in pain as the wall clashes rather harshly with my head.

I look down at the ground in defeat. There's no convincing Metal Knuckles. Eggman has totally wiped his memory to the point he doesn't even know about any of the times that Metal Shadow, Metal Knuckles, and I had together over the years. He was completely reprogrammed to the point all he knows how to do is listen to whatever Eggman asks him to do. It's downright sickening that Eggman has done that to him. In a way, I guess it was needed, since Metal Knuckles did have a virus, and it probably couldn't have been taken out any other way.

"I'm sorry, Metal Knuckles." I say softly. "But Metal Shadow made a sacrifice for me, and I am not going to let that go to waste. It's a shame Eggman has wiped your memory. You were a great friend, after all."

Then, putting all of my emotions about fighting Metal Knuckles aside, I bring forth my best effort in fighting, ignoring the fact that every time I land a hit on Metal Knuckles, I get sad. We continue to wrestle on the ground, both kicking and punching the other in an attempt to get the upper hand in the battle.

I manage to wriggle free of Metal Knuckles and push him across the sidewalk. I get up and activate my jet pack to fly, which is something Metal Knuckles does not have the programming to do. I lunge at him with speed rivaling Sonic's and he punches me with power rivialing Knuckles'

What results is a massive explosion, which sends both of us flying in either direction. Metal Knuckles goes flying, smoke flying after him straight for Eggman and sends him flying out of his pod to who knows (and who really cares) where. I go flying in the opposite direction, pain singing my stomach area, where my engine is, and I hit the bush a little ways off with a thud.

My vision is fizzling in and out, but I manage to pick up the sounds of Eggman screaming like he always does every time he fails one of his plans. I know at that moment that he will likely not be back for me, and I can finally rest at ease.

But what point is there if all of my friends are gone?

Metal Shadow was killed to save my own metal, Mephiles betrayed me, and Metal Knuckles is probably most certainly dead after the damage I dealt to him in the explosion. I am alone, with no one. What's the point in even being in this world if you have nobody to accompany you? With no one to talk to and lean on for advice? I got what I wanted, but it came at a heavy price—the death of all of my friends.

I find myself crying oil tears, feeling upset and most of all, alone. At that moment, I black out. For some reason, I am wishing that I don't ever come to.


	13. Surprises and Happiness at Last

**Chapter Twelve: Surprises and Happiness at Last**

"Metal!" I hear a familiar voice yell. "Metal, wake-wakey! Please?"

My vision slowly fizzles into view. I feel like I've been offline for years, yet I still feel extremely tired. I realize that I am in someone's home. I'm in a bed, covered in blankets that I really don't understand why I'd even need. The walls are wooden, along with the floor.

There isn't much furniture since the room's fairly small. There's just the screensaver, flashing the Windows logo over and over in random spots of the screen. I roll myself over and look to see who is trying to wake me up.

"Sweet mother of Chaos!" I yell out, "I swear I'm dead because you can't be alive!"

"I am, Metal." Metal Shadow says. He looks about the same as he did, except someone has given him an entire new engine system. "You probably won't believe this, but Mephiles fixed me good as new! It took him awhile, but he did! And it took us awhile to get this house too, but we did! I'm so happy you're back!"

"How long have I been out?" I question.

"Nearly two whole years, Metal." Metal Shadow says.

"WHAT?!" I shout out in my loudest voice. "I'VE BEEN OUT FOR _TWO YEARS?!_"

"Yes, two years, Metal." another familiar voice says as the door creaks open. Mephiles is standing there with a hot cup of what I'm guessing to be coffee. "You missed a lot during those two years, just to let you know."

"Why did you betray me?" I snap, remembering when Mephiles left me alone to fight Eggman. "Why did you leave me to fight Eggman alone when I'd just started to trust you?"

"I didn't betray you; I was just getting out of the way." Mephiles says. He seems to be hiding the full truth about the situation though, and I can sense that he is.

"You're a liar and I know it." I nearly interrupt him. "Your tone, your calling me "scrap metal", I know for sure you weren't just trying to get out of the way. Now tell me the truth of what you are really up to!"

Mephiles doesn't respond for a long time, and sets his cup of coffee by the computer, looking out the window.

"Do you really want to know the truth?" Mephiles asks, turning to look at me. "Do you honestly want to know the truth?"

I sit silently, unsure what to do. I am not sure if I should respond or yell, so I just decide to let him continue on his own.

Mephiles pauses for a moment, looking down at the ground, still refusing to face me. He sighs again.

"Truth is, at that time, I did have a scheme set out." Mephiles starts, looking at the wall. "I did betray you; I was simply using you and Metal Shadow as a reason for escape. I purposely killed Metal Shadow because for some reason…I liked to see your pain. I saw you crying and I felt satisfaction from that. I was going to dispose of you, but the G.U.N. guards found me and took me back to jail. Shadow gave me a long and harsh whipping and locked me back up in my cell."

I look at his back, noticing a ton of scars from what I am guessing to be the whippings he took back at the jail. Immediately I feel bad for snapping at him just a few minutes ago and look away in shame. Metal Shadow sits, cross-legged on the bed next to me and Mephiles continues.

"I was stuck back in that jail for a year, and during that year I realized that I needed to turn my life around if I was hoping to be anything of importance. Luckily a grey hedgehog named Amelia decided to take me out of the G.U.N. jail and took me into her care. We were so close and I was even beginning to fall for her. Until…Shadow killed her. Well, more like she sacrificed herself so that I wouldn't be killed by Shadow…"

He pauses again at that part, and I swear I saw tears in his eyes. I let him continue when he gathers himself.

"I've been living here in the woods since, and after Amelia died, I decided to go back to the G.U.N. jail to see if I could find you. You were stuck in a bush still, totally offline. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to fix you, but I decided to try. I found Metal Shadow as well, and decided to try and fix him too. Luckily I managed. However, by the time I got back, the house had been burned down. After another year's time, I ended up here, with Shadow, who I have become friends with though it took a very long time. However, after I found out some things, I can trust him..."

I don't say anything for a long time, letting all of the information Mephiles just gave me set in. I'm not sure whether to be angry that he betrayed me, happy that he fixed me or flat out not believe anything that he just told me. I decide to not comment, but I nod my head, indicating I had been listening to his story.

"Anyway, I am glad that both you and Metal Shadow are online and ready to go again." Mephiles says, picking up his coffee and sitting next to Metal Shadow and I.

I still refuse to comment, looking up at the ceiling fan. It hasn't been dusted in a long time, since dust is piling up along its edges. I still can't believe I went into a two-year coma. Why, I don't know and how, I don't know. Perhaps it was just a final side effect from the virus that the commander had given me. Either that or it's another malfunctioning that I have. Regardless, I'm not happy that it happened.

Metal Shadow taps me on the shoulder at that moment.

"Hey, you're zoning out again." he says. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I say quickly, sitting up and hopping out of bed. However before long, I become tired again and climb back into the bed. Metal Shadow helps me into the bed.

"You're going to be just fine, Metal." Metal Shadow says. 'I've been fixed an entire month and Mephiles isn't as scary as you think he is. I really think you ought to give him a chance and trust him. I don't think that he's going to be evil again anytime soon, if at all."

"Fine," I say, "I will do it for you and because you would like me to, but only because of that. I'm glad that I have you back though, Metal Shadow. You have no clue how upset I was when I lost you."

"I imagine you were, and I am very sorry that you had to go through that whole situation." Metal Shadow says. "After all, it is part my fault you had to go through everything that you did, since I was the one who was trying to protect you from the Chaos Lance that Mephiles fired off—"

"Don't mention it anymore, Metal Shadow." I interrupt him. "It's bad enough I had to go through it, and I really don't want to think about it again."

"Alright then," Metal Shadow agrees, dropping the subject. "If that's what makes you happy, then I'll drop it."

"Thank you." I say. I then look at Mephiles. "I guess I can believe your story, and forgive you for what you did back there. After all, it seems you righted your wrong."

"I tried." Mephiles says with a small smile. "I know I can probably never make it up to you, but I at least made an attempt to fix things the best that I could."

I nod in agreement, starting to feel somewhat comfortable around Mephiles. I begin to feel a sense of trust towards him after hearing his entire story, and finally feel comfortable enough to finally let my guard off around him. I suddenly feel sleepy again, so I lay back in the bed. Metal Shadow must be tired too, because he does the same. Feeling somewhat of a happy feeling, I turn my eyes off for the night, going into sleep mode.

Just before I go offline, I feel Mephiles put the blankets over us both and whisper:

"Goodnight, my friends…"

* * *

_So that's the end of this story. I am however, planning to make a sequel to this in the very near future and also a story revealing what all happened with Mephiles and Shadow while Metal was comatose to help readers get a better understanding of this chapter._

_Thank you to all who read and reviewed, and I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_Until next time,_

_-Icee The Hedgehog_


End file.
